Load — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

noun verb /ˈlōd/

Meaning & Definition of Load

Load (noun)

  1. the quantity that can be carried at one time by a specified means; especially, a measured quantity of a commodity fixed for each type of carrier —often used in combination
  2. whatever is put on a person or pack animal to be carried, pack
  3. whatever is put in a ship or vehicle or airplane for conveyance, cargo; especially, a quantity of material assembled or packed as a shipping unit

Load (verb)

  1. to put a load in or on (a vehicle, animal, etc.) —often used with up
  2. to place (someone or something) in or on a means of conveyance
  3. to encumber or oppress (someone or something) with something heavy, laborious, or disheartening, burden

Load (verb) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

  1. to place a weight or burden on

    "students complaining that their teachers were loading them with work"

    similar: burden, encumber, freight, lade, laden, lumber, saddle, weight
    related: clog, clutter, fill, pack, heap, mound, pile, stack, press, weigh, strain, tax, overburden, overload, overtax, surcharge, hamper, handicap, afflict, oppress
    opposite: disburden, discharge, disencumber, unburden, unlade, unload
    near: alleviate, ease, lighten, relieve

  2. to put into (something) as much as can be held or contained

    "she loaded her plate at the buffet with as much food as she could carry and with more than any sane person should eat"

    similar: brim, charge, cram, fill, heap, jam, jam-pack, pack, stuff
    related: drench, flood, glut, swamp, bloat, bulk, crowd, crush, mat, press, ram, shove, squash, squeeze, refill, refresh, reload, repack, replenish, overcharge, overfill, overflow, saturate, honeycomb, penetrate
    opposite: clear, empty, evacuate, vacate, void
    near: lighten, deplete, drain, eliminate, exhaust, bleed, draw (off), clean, flush, purge, scour, sweep

Load (noun) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

  1. a mass or quantity of something taken up and carried, conveyed, or transported

    "hoisted a load of grain on the truck going to Florida"

    similar: burden, cargo, draft, freight, haul, lading, loading, payload, weight
    related: consignment, boatload, carload, shipload, trainload, truckload, wagonload, ballast, deadweight, overload, surcharge, bale, bundle, pack, package, packet, parcel, shipment, manifest, body, bulk, mass

  2. a considerable amount

    "there's no rush, since we've got loads of time left"

    similar: abundance, barrel, basketful, boatload, bucket, bunch, bundle, bushel, carload, chunk, deal, dozen, fistful, gobs, good deal, heap, hundred, lashings (chiefly British), lot, mass, mess, mountain, much, multiplicity, myriad, oodles, pack, passel, peck, pile, plateful, plenitude, plentitude, plenty, pot, potful, profusion, quantity, raft, reams, scads, sheaf, shipload, sight, slew, spate, stack, store, ton, truckload, volume, wad, wealth, yard, all kinds (of), quite a bit
    related: epidemic, plague, rash, bonanza, embarrassment, excess, overabundance, overage, overkill, overmuch, oversupply, plethora, redundancy, superabundance, superfluity, surfeit, surplus, deluge, flood, overflow, army, bevy, cram, crowd, crush, drove, flock, herd, horde, host, legion, mob, multitude, press, score, sea, swarm, throng, gazillion, jillion, kazillion, million, thousands, trillion, zillion
    opposite: ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful, hint, lick, little, mite, mouthful, nip, ounce, peanuts, pinch, pittance, scruple, shade, shadow, smidgen, speck, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, streak, suspicion, tad, taste, touch, trace
    near: atom, crumb, dot, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, grain, granule, iota, jot, modicum, molecule, mote, nubbin, particle, ray, scintilla, scrap, shred, tittle, whit, smatter, smattering, dash, drop, morsel, shot, piece, portion, section, absence, dearth, famine, lack, paucity, poverty, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, undersupply, want, deficiency, deficit, inadequacy, insufficiency, meagerness, scantiness, scantness, skimpiness

Related Entry: Load up on (phrase)

Load up on is a different word from Load. The synonyms below are for load up on, not for load.

  1. to eat greedily or to excess

    "He was loading up on shrimp at the party."

    similar: gorge, gormandize, overeat, pig out, swill
    related: devour, glut, sate, stuff, surfeit, wolf, banquet, feast, regale, bolt, cram, gulp, guzzle
    near: nibble, peck, pick, taste

Related Entry: Off-load (verb)

Off-load is a different word from Load. The synonyms below are for off-load, not for load.

  1. to empty or rid of cargo

    "the warehouse needs to hire more people to load and off-load the trucks"

    similar: disburden, discharge, disencumber, unburden, unlade, unload, unpack
    related: free, lighten, relieve, clear, empty, evacuate, vacate, void
    opposite: load, pack
    near: charge, cram, fill, heap, jam, jam-pack, stuff

Related Entry: Get a load of (phrase)

Get a load of is a different word from Load. The synonyms below are for get a load of, not for load.

  1. to make note of (something) through the use of one's eyes

    "Get a load of my new house!"

    "You have to get a load of his outfit today—it is quite the fashion statement."

    similar: behold, catch, descry, discern, distinguish, espy, eye, look (at), note, notice, observe, perceive, regard, remark, see, sight, spot, spy, view, witness, lay eyes on, set eyes on
    related: identify, make out, pick out, pick up, attend (to), consider, heed, mark, mind, study, watch, examine, inspect, scan, scrutinize, survey, glance (at), glimpse, peer (at)
    near: disregard, ignore, neglect, overpass, pass over, miss, overlook

Related Entry: Got a load of (phrase)

Got a load of is a different word from Load. The synonyms below are for got a load of, not for load.

  1. to make note of (something) through the use of one's eyes

    "Get a load of my new house!"

    "You have to get a load of his outfit today—it is quite the fashion statement."

    similar: beheld, caught, descried, discerned, distinguished, espied, eyed, looked (at), noted, noticed, observed, perceived, regarded, remarked, saw, sighted, spied, spotted, viewed, witnessed, laid eyes on, set eyes on
    related: identified, made out, picked out, picked up, attended (to), considered, heeded, marked, minded, studied, watched, examined, inspected, scanned, scrutinized, surveyed, glanced (at), glimpsed, peered (at)
    near: disregarded, ignored, neglected, overpassed, passed over, missed, overlooked

Related Entry: Gets a load of (phrase)

Gets a load of is a different word from Load. The synonyms below are for gets a load of, not for load.

  1. to make note of (something) through the use of one's eyes

    "Get a load of my new house!"

    "You have to get a load of his outfit today—it is quite the fashion statement."

    similar: beholds, catches, descries, discerns, distinguishes, espies, eyes, looks (at), notes, notices, observes, perceives, regards, remarks, sees, sights, spies, spots, views, witnesses, lays eyes on, sets eyes on
    related: identifies, makes out, picks out, picks up, attends (to), considers, heeds, marks, minds, studies, watches, examines, inspects, scans, scrutinizes, surveys, glances (at), glimpses, peers (at)
    near: disregards, ignores, neglects, overpasses, passes over, misses, overlooks

Related Entry: Getting a load of (phrase)

Getting a load of is a different word from Load. The synonyms below are for getting a load of, not for load.

  1. to make note of (something) through the use of one's eyes

    "Get a load of my new house!"

    "You have to get a load of his outfit today—it is quite the fashion statement."

    similar: beholding, catching, descrying, discerning, distinguishing, espying, eyeing, looking (at), noticing, noting, observing, perceiving, regarding, remarking, seeing, sighting, spotting, spying, viewing, witnessing, laying eyes on, setting eyes on
    related: identifying, making out, picking out, picking up, attending (to), considering, heeding, marking, minding, studying, watching, examining, inspecting, scanning, scrutinizing, surveying, glancing (at), glimpsing, peering (at)
    near: disregarding, ignoring, neglecting, overpassing, passing over, missing, overlooking

Related Entry: Overload (verb)

Overload is a different word from Load. The synonyms below are for overload, not for load.

  1. to fill or load to excess

    "try not to overload your backpack, or you could end up with back problems"

    similar: overburden, overcharge, overfill
    related: stuff, burden, charge, encumber, lade, laden, load, lumber, saddle, weigh down, weight
    near: lighten, unburden, unload

Synonyms, Thesaurus & Another Word for Load

The most common words with a similar meaning to Load:

Chiefly British: lashings
burden, encumber, freight, lade, laden, lumber, saddle, weight, brim, charge, cram, fill, heap, jam, jam-pack, pack, stuff, cargo, draft, haul, lading, loading, payload, abundance, barrel, basketful, boatload, bucket, bunch, bundle, bushel, carload, chunk, deal, dozen, fistful, gobs, good deal, hundred, lot

Antonyms & Opposite Words for Load

Words with the opposite meaning of Load:

disburden, discharge, disencumber, unburden, unlade, unload, clear, empty, evacuate, vacate, void, ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful, hint, lick, little, mite, mouthful, nip, ounce, peanuts, pinch, pittance, scruple, shade

Related Words for Load

clog, clutter, mound, press, weigh, strain, tax, overburden, overload, overtax, surcharge, hamper, handicap, afflict, oppress, drench, flood, glut, swamp, bloat, bulk, crowd, crush, mat, ram, shove, squash, squeeze, refill, refresh

Near Antonyms of Load

alleviate, ease, lighten, relieve, deplete, drain, eliminate, exhaust, bleed, draw (off), clean, flush, purge, scour, sweep, atom, crumb, dot, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, grain, granule, iota, jot, modicum, molecule, mote, nubbin, particle

Word Forms of Load

Inflections: loaded, loading, loads

Derived words: loader (noun)

Origin & Etymology of Load

Middle English lod, from Old English lād support, carrying lode

First known use: 12th century

Vocabulary Lists & Topics for Load

Words & Phrases Containing Load

load factor, load line, load up on, load down with, load of laundry, load the dice, carbo-load, dead load

Frequently Asked Questions about Load

What does "Load" mean?

"Load" means the quantity that can be carried at one time by a specified means; especially, a measured quantity of a commodity fixed for each type of carrier —often used in combination. As an a noun and a verb, it is defined as: the quantity that can be carried at one time by a specified means; especially, a measured quantity of a commodity fixed for each type of carrier —often used in combination. It has 4 distinct senses.

What is another word for "Load"?

Other words for "Load" include burden, encumber, freight, lade, laden, lumber, saddle and weight. The best synonym depends on which meaning of "Load" you intend.

What are different ways to say "Load"?

There are 167 words and phrases with a similar meaning to "Load". Common alternatives include burden, encumber, freight, lade, laden, lumber, saddle, weight, brim and charge.

What is the opposite of "Load"?

Antonyms of "Load" include disburden, discharge, disencumber, unburden, unlade, unload, clear and empty. Near antonyms include alleviate, ease, lighten and relieve.

How do you use "Load" in a sentence?

Examples of "Load" in a sentence: "students complaining that their teachers were loading them with work"; "she loaded her plate at the buffet with as much food as she could carry and with more than any sane person should eat"; "hoisted a load of grain on the truck going to Florida".

Is "Load" a noun, verb, or adjective?

"Load" can be used as a noun and a verb, depending on the context.

Is "Load" useful for IELTS, TOEFL, and other English exams?

As a B2-level word, "Load" is typical of Cambridge B2 First (FCE), IELTS band 5.5–6.5, TOEFL iBT 72–94, PTE Academic 59–75, TOEIC Listening & Reading 785+.

How do you pronounce "Load"?

"Load" is pronounced /ˈlōd/.